Key Takeaways:
FBI agents seized 303 gold bars worth approximately $40M from former CIA official David Rush around May 27, 2026.Fort Knox holds ~147M troy ounces of gold worth an estimated $662B at current market prices, last independently audited in 1953.Trump has called for a Fort Knox audit, but no date has been set as of May 31, with Rep. Massie’s H.R. 3795 still pending in Congress.At a statutory book value of $42.22 per ounce, set in 1973, the Fort Knox holdings are valued at approximately $6.22 billion. At current market prices near $4,500 per ounce, the market value sits between $662 billion and $667 billion.
The Audit Gap Not the First PushThis is not Trump’s first attempt. In February 2025, Trump and then-DOGE head Elon Musk publicly announced plans to inspect Fort Knox. No independent inspection followed. Treasury officials pointed to routine internal reviews as sufficient verification.
No audit has been formally scheduled as of May 31, 2026.
What Traders Are WatchingFor traders and investors tracking macro policy and hard asset dynamics, a formal audit announcement, if it came, could draw significant attention to gold-backed monetary discussions, though Trump has not proposed ending fiat currency.
The Rush arrest and Trump’s Truth Social post have kept the Fort Knox question active heading into June.
